Grain is often transported in boxcars equipped with sliding stormdoors. To retain the grain within the car it has been the practice to install a temporary barricade across the inside of the doorway opening. When the car comes to a grain center such as Chicago, the grain must be sampled and for this purpose, an artisan must enter the car. Frequently, difficulty is experienced in opening the sliding stormdoors -- not only because of the warpage, rust, etc. that normally attends doors exposed to all types of weather, but also because of the bulging of the temporary barricade inside. To overcome this difficulty, it has been the practice to install a pryboard at the bottom of the door which is used by the artisan as a fulcrum for a pry-bar in edging open the sliding stormdoor. More particularly, a pointed bar is thrust into the pry-board and the leverage developed is used to open the sliding stormdoor. After the door has been opened sufficiently to permit the entry of the artisan, he climbs over the temporary barricade in order to obtain the sample. Here it will be appreciated that the temporary barricade does not extend to the very top of the doorway opening, but terminates a spaced distance below. This is necessary to permit the grain to be delivered into the car initially. However, the temporary barricade is normally incapable of supporting the artisan's weight and hence a second board, viz., the climb board, is positioned across the doorway opening.
In the past, pry-boards have been located in two positions: (1) against the outer surface of the temporary barricade as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,749, or (2) against the inner surface of the temporary barricade as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,966,214. Disadvantages have attended both types of installation. With the pry-board against the outside surface of the temporary door, the door has to be creased or bent around the top of the pry-board creating a space which has to be sealed with caulking paper or the like. With the other version, where the pry-board is positioned against the inside surface of the door, it will be apparent that the door itself must be breached by having the pry bar penetrate therethrough in order to get the necessary leverage. This destroys the desirable integrity of the door and could cause grain leakage.
According to the invention, an upwardly tapered pry-board is employed against the outer surface of the door which eliminates all of the foregoing difficulties. In the preferred embodiment, a single board or timber is cut diagonally to provide two halves with one half being used as the pry-board and the remaining half as the climb board.